SRA puts solicitor competence under the microscope

The SRA has unveiled an upcoming research project in which it will seek to discover if standards of criminal advocacy have declined in the UK and whether lawyer competence (or incompetence) might be a contributing factor. Specifically, the research will ask judges across the country if they feel that solicitors and Crown Prosecution Advocates are 'working beyond their level of competence'. The report, due for completion this spring, will also scrutinise the role played by clients of legal services in determining the quality of advocacy, including the decision making process behind choosing a particular solicitor or advocate and 'behaviours related to the ban on referral fees.'

Watchful eye on in-house

Corporate counsel have also been pinned with an SRA red flag. Specifically, the regulator has indicated that it will scrutinise the emerging preference among companies to allocate a larger proportion of their legal work to in-house counsel rather than outsourcing to law firms. By culling their outside legal spend, the SRA suggests, companies may in fact be be retaining work that is beyond the competence of their in-house legal departments. Source: Legal Futures